Broken Escalators
by Gallifrey Immigrant
Summary: When a red-haired Scot ends up trapped in a mall that won't let anyone go, she meets an old friend-who hasn't met her yet.
1. Chapter 1

"I'm afraid that the Russians are gonna kill us one day. My aunt tells me that she heard the Russians are sending spies to scope out good spots for bombing," my friend Anna says. She looks over at me when I don't reply.

"Maybe." I say, shrugging. "Who knows what will happen?"

She frowns at that, the way she always does when I slip and don't respond to current events the way everybody else does. "I love ya, Amy, but sometimes you're weird."

"No weirder than you after you've got a few drinks in you!" I tease, hoping she won't press the issue further.

"Don't blame me just because I can't handle liquor like you!" she said, laughing. "Plus, your husband Rory's a lightweight. Man took two drinks, damn near fell off his chair. Speaking of him, isn't he supposed to be bringin' your kids over? "

Almost on cue, a car came onto my block. Tucking a strand of red hair out of my face, I went to place a kiss on the driver. "Hello love."

"Hello back, lady" said Rory Pond. On the edge of my vision, I could see Anna making gagging motions along with the other two people in the car.

"And who would you be?" I said in a mock-inquisitive voice to those two people.

"Mom! We saw so much cool stuff on our trip!" said Brian.

"Yeah, it was awesome! First, we went to-," said Vincent.

"No fair! I want to tell Mom!" said Brian.

"Calm down, kiddos! You'll both get to tell Mom! But not now, because Mommy has to go take the car to the store," I said.

"But mom-!" they both started.

"Shush!" I said with a smile, putting a finger to the lips. "I love you, and see you later. " The kids (reluctantly) walked off.

Shaking my head, I looked up. The stars seemed so far away.

"You okay?" said Rory. Even with lines on his face, he was still just as beautiful as the day we met.

"Yeah, I'm good," I said. I meant it, too.

"I still think about him, too." he said.

"You know...I kinda don't," I said. He raised his eyebrows in obvious skepticism. "I mean, he'll always be in my memory, but...it's like, I moved on. I actually forget what I used to call him."

He was silent for a moment. I would have thought he hadn't heard me, but I knew him too well for that. "Yeah. We've moved on. I was just checking on you. " He smiled, and kissed me softly. "Be safe."

"I outlived Daleks and Weeping Angels. What's the worst that could happen?" I said.

As I got in the car, Anna walked to me to say goodbye. "Their grandfather would have been proud," she said, referring to my kids.

"He will be," I said wistfully.

"Huh?" she said.

"Nothing," I waved it away.

A few hours later, I was in the Fax shopping mall. It didn't have everything, but it had enough. I sat in the bottom floor, and checked my shopping list, filled with what we could buy on my author's income. I wouldn't be able to buy everything I wanted, but I could buy enough. I was about to start shopping when something weird happened.

All the lights shut down.

Then I heard shouts. I couldn't see anything, but it seemed like the escalators shut down, and people were tripping over themselves. I could deal with the dark (I've dealt with worse) , but everyone else lost their minds. People were bustling past each other in confusion.

"This is what happens in these new malls!" said a woman in a fur coat. "They never maintain 'em right."

"AHHH!" said a voice.

I turned to see someone screaming and pointing at one of the doors. "What happened?"

"The door burnt my hand!" he said. I looked at his hand, and it was indeed burned.

Suddenly, a locking sound rang across the mall.

We were locked in, with doors that wouldn't let us out.

That's when I realized this would be a long day.

Pandemonium soon rung out. People were screaming and running. Dodging out of the way, I tripped over who was apparently a homeless man. I said sorry, but he barely seemed to acknowledge me with his green-gunked covered eyes.

"Everyone, CALM DOWN!" said a male voice with a speaker phone.

"And who the hell are you?" said the man with the burnt hand (apparently a lawyer).

"I'm the Doctor."

My heart skipped a beat, even though I always said I'd stay calm if I heard those words again. I turned around. Totally different coat; no bow tie; and I think celery is even worse than a fez. But it was him. I could tell it was him. And words I thought I forgot—words I tried to forget—came from my lips:

"My Raggedy Man."

He replied, "Er...who?"

That's when I realized this would be a _really_ long day.


	2. Chapter 2

"It's me, Amy Pond!" I said. Had he forgotten me? The thought bothered me more than I would have liked.

He blinked at me with wide eyes. "I'm so sorry, but I've never met you before. Or maybe we met and I forgot you. In which case I apologize. I do tend to forget people, despite my best intentions. Curse of the constant traveler, I suppose..."

Dammit, did I have the wrong guy? There couldn't more than one man called Doctor in the world, right? "Okay, does any of this jig a memory: River Song, Girl who waited, Rory the Centurion, bowties are cool, TARDIS, sonic screwdriver, fish fingers in custard, Daleks," I said, looking in his eyes for any sign of recognition.

His face took on a mixture of confusion and shock, and a little bit of fear. "I've heard a few river hymns, and met quite a few centurions, but none named Rory. I'm not sure if I'd call bowties 'cool' , but I've got nothing against them. Also, who eats fish fingers with custard?" he said with a look of extremely disgust, and I was almost convinced right then and there that he wasn't the Doctor, but then he continued, "but the TARDIS...yes, I definitely know that. And some days I wish I didn't know who the Daleks are." Suddenly, he snapped his eyes on mine with a look of irritation. "Hang on. Are you part of that LINDA group? Because I keep on telling them I'm not going to star in one of their 'fan' films, or wear-."

"I'm not a part of Lindy, or whatever," I said quickly.

He looked extremely relieved. "Oh, good. I was worried for a second. Amy Pond, that's you said your name was? Happy to meet-!"

"Give me your flashlight, doll, " shouted someone from behind me. Turning around, I saw that it was the lawyer, talking to a young woman wearing a dress with a flower design. "I'm injured, and I need the light more than you do."

"Oh, please," said the woman. "It's just your hand, you'll live. And my name's Kathleen Morris, not 'doll'."

"Listen, I have an appointment in two hours. If I don't get there in time, I will literally end up paying for it. So, _Kathleen, _maybe you could just do us both a favor and give me the flashlight, so I can get us both out of here."

I had enough of this. I got in front of him "She's just nervous. Just like you are. The only difference is that you're being a total ass about it. So, why don't you just sit in the corner and do whatever lawyers do ,while the grown-ups figure out a solution. "

His face got red, and he began to wince. At first, I thought maybe I had really hurt his ego, but then I realized he was wincing due to the burn. The burn, which had been just a light burn before, almost looked like it was getting worse. I could have sworn the skin wasn't that dark before, and I thought my nose perceived a slight charcoal scent.

Panting oddly, he looked up at me and said "I'm a doctor, not a lawyer, genius. So you can take your smart mouth and-"

"Oh, you're a doctor! So am I!" said the Doctor. "It's so rare I get to meet a man of my profession! What's your name?"

"You're the man with the speakerphone," said the doctor (I swear he looked more like a lawyer),. He looked the Doctor up and down with an unimpressed expression. "Never seen a doctor wear clothes like that before. And my name's Simon Wener. What's your name—damn, this pain is killing me!" said Simon as began to lose balance.

"Just the Doctor," the Doctor said, helping the man up to his feet. "Looks like you could use a hand." (The inward groan I felt was oddly familiar.)

Despite Simon's pain, his expression showed the Doctor's pun didn't escape him. Glaring at the Doctor, he said, "Thanks for helping me up, but I don't have time for jokes. I'll find a first aid kit myself; we're in a mall, so it can't be too hard. Then we find a way out." With that, Simon limped away from us, going up the escalators.

"Do you know what's going on?" I asked the Doctor.

"No idea. Hmm...Simon said he was burned from the door, right?" He walked through the aisles, dodging a fallen item here and there, until he got to the door . Then he reached for the door.

"Be careful!" I hissed.

"Oh, never be too careful. Or you'll never experience life fully," he said, grinning. I rolled my eyes. Changing my position to get a better look at what he was doing, I saw that he was holding his hand in front of the door handle, but not touching it.

After a few moments, he put his hand away. "That's what I thought," the Doctor said.

"Have you figured it out?" I asked.

"No. Amy, would you please place your hand near the door for a moment?" he asked. Sensing my hesitation, he assured "I'll make sure you don't touch the door."

I decided to nod yes to his request. Taking my hand in his, he guided my hand in front of the door, making sure skin didn't touch metal. "Do you notice anything strange?" he asked.

After calming my fears of my palm getting burnt, I concentrated on what my hand felt. All I could feel was the Doctor's warm palm, the cold air...wait.

"There's no heat coming from the door," I said.

"Exactly. Simon says he was burnt, and from my quick look at his hand when I helped him up, he's showing all the signs of a second degree burn, but there's no heat coming from the door."

I was about to say that I thought the burn wasn't that bad, when I realized something else felt wrong. "The month is July. And the air conditioning can't be on since the electricity seems to have shut down. Yet the air's cool, almost like we're in fall. That's definitely not normal New York summer weather."

The Doctor tapped his chin, pondering what I said. "You know, I only came here because there was a sale on cricket bats. Even when I try to have a vacation, trouble finds me," he sighed.

I did a one-handed shrug. "That's the life we lead, Doctor. Or, at least, the life I used to lead. Also, may I have my hand back now?"

An embarrassed Doctor stopped using my hand to tap his chin. Smirking at him, I said "I didn't know you liked me _that _way. But, sorry, I'm married. "

"Er, well...anyway, we should check on everyone else. Maybe we can get some clues about this predicament if we ask around. I'm especially interested in that doctor's burn. Let's go see what Simon says," said the Doctor.

Walking back to the entrance, where everyone else was, I noticed the hobo from earlier. His eyes still looked extremely gunky, and there seemed to be ketchup on his beard. but he looked more lively. I waved at him.

He waved back, with a black-toothed grin crawling onto his face.

"You know," said the Doctor as we were walking, "there is something else weird about that door."

"Odd temperatures and mystery burns isn't enough?" I said.

"Well, isn't it odd we haven't been rescued?" the Doctor said. "Think about it. A whole mall locks up, with people inside, and no one says anything? No one has tried to break us out, or communicate with us, as far as I know."

"Well, we don't have cellphones yet. They can't just text us," I said. Rory was probably pacing the floor now, debating with himself on whether he should be worried that I hadn't come home yet.

He gave me an odd look, and I remembered that he still didn't know I wasn't from this time period. "...Right. Amy, something tells me you're not from around here."

"Any other weird stuff?" I said, trying to get him to change the subject.

"Yes. At the door, there were no outside sounds. No cars, or anything. In fact, it's oddly silent."

"Doesn't sound like New York at all,. I can barely get any sleep sometimes with all the noise," I said.

"Because maybe we're not in New York anymore," he said.

I stopped walking. "Wait, how is that possible?"

Before he could answer, an Indian man, who I recognized as my neighbor Sanjay, rushed up to us "Doctor! You're a doctor, right?"

The Doctor nodded. "What's wrong?"

"A man named Simon needs medical attention," he said. "Something's very wrong with him."

"Calm down, Sanjay. Is his burn infected or something?" I asked.

He just shook his head and said, "You have to see for yourselves."

Sanjay took us up the escalator and into one of the mattress stores. Ahead of us were a group of fellow mall prisoners. I noted Kathleen in the side of my eye, standing away from the group, but still observing.

The Doctor quickly walked to the group. "Alright, step aside, the Doctor will see you now," he said. When I caught up to him, though, there was no trace of a joke on his face. His face looked bewildered. Confused, I turned to see what made him so serious.

And I nearly threw up.

Simon was sprawled on one of the beds in the mall. The burn that had been on his hand, was now clearly a third degree burn. His skin was black and red and sickly yellow, and you could literally smell (and see) the burnt flesh. And it wasn't just on his hands, but also up his shoulder, and a quarter across his upper chest. Thankfully, he still seemed to be alive...though considering how painful his condition looked, he probably wasn't that grateful. Then I looked closer at the burn.

It was growing, crawling up his body before our eyes.


	3. Interlude 1

Ciara's Super Awesome Journal

OK. Keep calm. You're a big girl. Well, actually, you're only 7. But that's no reason to whine about how you got locked in a mall. I knew this was a bad place to sleep!

Hmm. That redhead girl with the accent is tall. I've seen her around before. I think she writes books.

That guy with the white coat is cute. He looks so funny with that microphone. The author girl and he are talking...do they know each other? He doesn't seem to think so.

Spying on people from the top floor of mall—always fun!

That guy in the rags (Note: maybe hobo) (2nd note: Marie always says not nice to call people hobos) (3rd note: who cares what Marie thinks—her parents are so rich she's probably never seen a hobo in life) is weird.

He's looking in my direction. Na na na na, you can't even see me!

Right?

Too upset by hobo. Gotta move to more secure place.

Good thing I moved. That guy with the burnt hand came up. He looks messed-up. Doesn't see me. He's walking to some plants. Oh, he's taking out a...knife!

Why cut the beautiful plants?

The plants are leaking out some weird blue stuff. He's drinking it? I'd rather have orange juice.

He's looking even more ill. The burn's gotten worse.

OK, he's gone.

I gotta go use the bathroom. Be right back, super awesome journal.

I'm back. The cute guy in the white coat is talking to the man with the burnt face. The burn's covered all of his...that's SO GROSS! Gotta look at something else. Hope cute guy knows not to touch the burnt spots.

Redhead author girl is talking to Kathleen. Probably about boring adult stuff.

Hobo guy is looking around. He's smiling.

You know, I like the cute guy. I hope this group lasts longer than the last one did.


	4. Chapter 3

The pungent stench rising off Simon was what finally woke me from my silence.

"Doctor, what the hell is going on? Whatever it is, it's getting worse," I said. I looked at his face for a response.

The Doctor was silently studying Simon, with his knees bent to the floor and his face up close to Simon's skin. Finally, he said softly "Simon."

The man stirred. With a voice that barely sounded like him he croaked ,"Yes, Doctor." Before the Doctor could reply, he continued "Am I dying?"

The Doctor took a deep breath. "Not if I can help it. I need to ask you a few questions. First, can you breathe easily? "

Simon replied "If I can talk, then obviously I can breathe. Don't ask me a stupid question. I thought you were a doctor." Apparently even being near-death didn't stop him from being obnoxious.

"The fact that you can breathe and talk means that whatever is affecting you hasn't gotten to your internals yet. That's very good. Now, can you remember anything unusual happening between the time you went to get first aid, and now? Even seemingly unimportant details might be relevant right now," said the Doctor.

Simon was silent for a moment. Then he whispered "D'you know it's hard to find medicine around here? I searched around. Couldn't find a thing. Finally, I saw some Vikodis plants. They're really good for helping relieve pain. So I cut some, and drank the liquid. Felt better at first. Then the pain got worse. And worse." Simon coughed, and some of the burnt skin seemed to crack from the movement. "May I rest now?"

"Yes," said the Doctor. Simon closed his eyes, his chest moving up and down. The Doctor straightened up and walked away from the rest of the group.

"Is he okay?" I asked. It was a stupid question, but I couldn't think of anything better.

"I need to you to do something for me," the Doctor said. "Ask around about this place. See if you can find out any information. Someone may have some sort of clue to what's going on."

"It would be great if someone had a clue. There's a whole bunch of weird stuff happening, and I have a feeling it's connected," I said. I realized too late I had unconsciously clasped my hand together the way my Doctor would've. Looking at the Doctor before me, I noticed he was holding his hands behind him the same way.

The Doctor scratched his head and replied "Exactly, that's what I was going to say...I've never met you, but if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were copying me."

Indignant, I glared at him and said "Copying! If anything...by the way, you've sent me on an errand, but what are you going to do?"

The Doctor looked in Simon's direction and said " First I'm going to take a closer look at Simon's skin. I need to take a tissue sample and analyze it." His face took on a look of disappointment. "If only my TARDIS was nearby. I'll have to make due with tools from around here. The 1980s: Wonderful for dance clubs, but not the best for medical...Macgyvering, I think the local Earth term is? Also, Amy, have you ever heard of Vicodis plants?"

"No," I said, ready for the impending explanation.

"Neither have I" said the Doctor. Then he walked off to tend to Simon.

I shook my head. I had often wondered whether the Spaceman's desire to get himself in trouble headfirst without thinking twice, or once, or at any point, was just his version of a mid-life crisis—complete with a fast ride and a young leggy woman . But it appeared he had always been this way. Rory would have laughed.

Was Rory okay? I hoped so. At least he wasn't involved with all this craziness.

Walking down the steps, I looked around downstairs. I counted 3 people—Sanjay, Kathleen, and an old woman whose name I didn't know yet. Checking for anyone else around, I looked up and saw a little girl with a note book looking at me.

"Hey, kiddo!" I said. "What's your name?"

"Who are you talking to?" Sanjay asked. Eyebrows raised, he stuffed his hands into his pocket which I knew was a nervous tic of his.

"The girl up there," I said. Of course she was gone, and now I looked like a crazy person. "I know I saw someone up there."

"So much of this situation is completely screwed up-we probably are gonna start seeing things," said Sanjay. He looked upstairs, and continued "You know that Doctor fellow?"

"In a way," I said in a tone that made it clear I wasn't going to elaborate.

Sanjay shrugged. "Well, he seems kinda odd. As long as you trust him, though...I guess it's okay," he continued, still fidgeting with his pockets.

I placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "Don't worry; we'll get out of here safely." (A part of me realized I had no way of guaranteeing that.)

Hearing steps behind me, I turned to see the old woman behind me. "Hello, " I said " I'm Amy Pond. You would be?"

Tucking long black hair out of her face, the old woman extended her hand. "Hello, my name is Cassie Jackson," she said as she smiled and shook my hand. She then patted down her yellow dress, and whispered "I saw that little girl too. She seems to be a shy little thing. And that tall woman in the black dress," she continued while discreetly looking at Kathleen, "appears to be hiding something. I was looking throughout the store for a while before it locked us in, and I don't even remember seeing that woman come in. I tried to spark up a conversation, but she wouldn't even chat."

"Thanks," I said. "I'll see what's up."

I walked beside Kathleen. She was smoking a cigarette, and staring at a music store with vinyl recordings in the window. I got the impression she was thinking about something serious.

"So, er, how are you dealing with all this?" I asked.

Without taking her eyes off the display, she said "You speak differently from everyone else."

"Last time I checked, I was speaking English," I said.

"It's not the words. But the way you say things, the way you use phrases, it's different from everyone else around here" she said. Then she turned to look at me, putting out the cigarette on the glass. I felt like her green eyes were piercing into me. "If you're here to question me, there's nothing for me to give you. I'm as clueless as you are," she said, with an edge of defensiveness.

I put my hands up. "I'm not here to uncover anything about you. I just want to see if you're okay, and see if you know anything about what's going on," I replied.

She stared at me for a few seconds. Then her face formed into a wide grin, and she said "Relax. And thank you for helping me when that doctor—Simon, I think it was- was bothering me."

"We're all on pins and needles here. But that's no excuse to be a jerk to you. Seriously, though, is everything okay? You seem a little preoccupied. Are you worried about people back home ?" I asked.

Kathleen grimaced at the mention of family. "Haven't worried about family in a long time. It's...complicated. You got any family?"

"Yep. My husband Rory, and my 2 little darlings Brian and Vincent," I said. "They're probably worried sick by now."

Kathleen looked almost apologetically at me. "It's nice to be missed."

An uncomfortable pause hung in the air. Then Kathleen said quietly "Make sure that blonde doctor doesn't touch Simon's burnt skin."

"Why?" I said. Before Kathleen could answer, Sanjay came up behind me, panting and clearly disturbed.

"What's up?" I asked the man, who was pale-white despite his brown complexion.

"I wanted to see whether something was up with the generators, because maybe that's why the lights were off." He took my arm, gesturing for me to follow him to the hall besides the steps as he continued "So I went to the doors to that room, and had just remembered I didn't have a key, when I noticed they were already unlocked. Peeking inside, I thought I saw the weird hobo, so I swung the doors open and I saw, well, light." We were at the doors.

"So the room to the electrical bow has light," Cassie, who had followed us, said. I turned my head, and noted that Kathleen hadn't budged.

"Yes—no. I don't think you understand. " said Sanjay. He swung open the doors to the room.

Instead of a dusty old room full of electrical equipment, there was light. I could barely see the ground due to the bright light nearly blinding me. I would have thought it was a sunny day, except that it felt far too cold to be the sun. I could hear wind rustling from farther away. Covering my eyes, I looked down and saw that the ground was filled with dirt and leaves. I took a step forward, and then yelped as something worm-like slithered over my foot. Except I had never seen worms that big before.

"This doesn't look like New York," said Cassie.

.


End file.
